You see, when you study sociology and/or social policy and the 'unintended consequences' it can have on human behaviour, you will quickly realise this above statement couldn't be further from the truth. Further, the 'old way' of playing didn't just vanish over night as everyone migrated to the new system. A lot of people predicted and rightly said at the time that LFD was not good for the long term health of the game and server communities and resisted it. Rather, the pool of players willing to sign up to the old ways of dungeoning simply dried up over time as convenience and consumerism trumped social niceties.
---------- Post added 2013-02-09 at 07:24 PM ----------
So you mean it peaked about the time LFD was implemented and then it went down hill from there? Interesting. Of course I will concede there may be many reasons for why WoW peaked then and gone down hill since, but I would wager that the diminishing effect that cross-realm features have had on server communities is a significant factor that can't be dismissed just on a whim.